Kansas City, KS-based union in turmoil as execs head to court over president’s ouster

The battle over who’s running the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers heads to federal court next week as the union’s president takes on the top officers who just ousted him.

The Kansas City, Kansas-based union filed a civil suit against three of its executives, requesting a temporary restraining order to prohibit the removal of International President Newton Jones after they issued a finding that Jones misused union funds for personal gain. Jones is refusing to step down, denying any wrongdoing and contending the officers had no authority to remove him.

A hearing on the restraining order is scheduled for 10 a.m. June 20 in the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas. Chief Judge Eric F. Melgren, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, will hear the case.

Jones, 69, also filed internal disciplinary charges against the three international vice presidents who removed him and another who brought forth the allegations, saying the four violated the union’s constitution. The remaining international vice president has sided with Jones against the others.

The case has erupted into an all-out war over the union’s leadership — and, some say, its future.

If Jones’ opponents are allowed to go forward with their plan, the lawsuit says, the union “will be thrown into extreme confusion about who is properly in charge,” sending it into “organizational chaos.”

Those who support Jones’ removal acknowledge it will create some turmoil, but say he is exaggerating the impact.

“The corruption runs far deeper than this and as the members know this will change our union fundamentally and cause some slight disruption during the transition, but in no way would it bring complete chaos as Jones would want you to believe,” says a statement on boilermakersforchange.net, a new website funded by rank-and-file members who advocate Jones’ ouster. “We have been preparing for his removal for a very long time and are doing this because it’s the only way to begin to repair the damages his corruption has caused.”

Some are planning a rally outside the courthouse the morning of the hearing to support Jones’ removal and the union executives who voted him out. They’ve also created a GoFundMe page to hire an attorney.

The allegations against Jones went public after three members of the union’s executive council — J. Tom Baca, of California; Arnie Stadnick, of Canada; and Timothy Simmons, of Alabama — signed a decision on June 1 to remove the longtime president from office.

Another council member, John Fultz, of New York, was not eligible to participate in the decision because he filed the internal disciplinary charges against Jones. The council’s remaining member, Lawrence McManamon Sr., of Ohio, did not attend the hearing at which the decision was made, nor did he vote to remove Jones.

The executive council ruled that Jones had violated a section in Article 17 of the Boilermaker’s constitution that deals with the misappropriation of funds.

The council found that Jones ordered the union to give his wife, Kateryna, more than $100,000 plus benefits in back pay “for apparently no union purpose while she was living in the Ukraine” and spent more than $20,000 in union funds for flights to Ukraine “to visit his wife and to go to the home which he owns in the Ukraine.”

Jones and his wife also turned in about $40,000 in receipts for meals for them and other family members when at their home in North Carolina — some “quite lavish and expensive” — with no justification for the expenses, the executive council found.

Calling Jones’ actions “shocking,” the council ordered him to reimburse the union “all of the funds which he misspent as reflected in these charges” and to immediately resign from all of his other positions, including serving as a trustee of all funds in which the union participates.

In a June 6 letter to “all principal lodge officers,” Jones — who has led the union since his father retired in 2003 — said he was “at a loss to explain or understand” the recent actions of the three international vice presidents.

“...These officers have accused me of misappropriation of funds without bothering to authenticate the evidence upon which they relied,” he wrote. “I assure you, I have not misappropriated any union funds. In fact, I have presided over a very clean organization in my 20 years as your International President.”

The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers represents about 46,000 workers in the United States and Canada who assemble, install and repair boilers, fit pipes and build power plants and ships. The work is physically demanding and dangerous, and many have to travel long distances to their job sites and live away from home for extended periods.

The lawsuit being heard next week names Baca, Stadnick and Simmons as defendants. Though filed by the union, many members say it doesn’t represent their feelings and they want no part of it.

“...The membership approves and stands with the international executive Council decision,” the GoFundMe site says, adding that members oppose the union paying Jones’ legal fees. The union’s longtime law firm, Blake & Uhlig, is handling the lawsuit.

The fundraising site, launched June 6, has raised more than $5,500. The attorney the members are hiring, Curtis Barnhill, is the former executive administrator for the Boilermakers National Funds (BNF), the union’s employee benefit plans. Barnhill sued the union in 2010, saying he was fired because he was cooperating with a federal investigation into business ties and investments at the BNF.

According to his lawsuit, Barnhill said the funds were jeopardized by unorthodox investment schemes and questionable ties between the funds and a trustee’s daughter. The suit said that the trustee, who also was a union vice president, appeared to steer between $500 million and $1 billion worth of contracts to his daughter’s company.

In November 2008, the lawsuit said, Barnhill received a subpoena ordering him to appear before a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas. Barnhill told trustees that he planned to fully cooperate with authorities. But two days before he was to appear, the lawsuit said, Barnhill was summoned to the union headquarters and fired.

The lawsuit alleged that Jones and others conspired to fire Barnhill in order “to damage Barnhill’s credibility, to deter him from testifying fully and freely before the grand jury, to separate him from his records which had been subpoenaed, and to punish him for his stated intent to cooperate with a federal grand jury investigation.”

Barnhill cooperated with the federal investigation throughout much of 2009, the lawsuit said. Court records show that the lawsuit was settled and dismissed in 2012. Barnhill has never commented on his lawsuit, and the outcome of that investigation is unclear.

But another federal investigation into union activities is now underway, The Star has learned. Several sources confirmed that they have been interviewed by the FBI in recent weeks.

The rank-and-file members aren’t the only ones supporting Jones’ dismissal. A petition is being circulated among leaders of local Boilermakers lodges demanding that Jones resign immediately.

“President Jones has presented no explanation or defense to this outrageous misconduct in misusing the assets of our Union, although he has been given the opportunity to do so,” it says. “The Executive Council has acted to remove him pursuant to the authority and procedure granted under our Constitution. President Jones’ conduct breaches his duties under the Constitution and the law to our members and our Union.”

Jones insists he isn’t going anywhere. He sent a letter dated June 9 to local lodge officers regarding the “malicious petition.”

“There is no facility in the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Constitution for such a petition, and this is yet another act of malevolence by IVP Baca in coordination with the other errant officers,” Jones wrote. “Further, Baca’s petition includes statements that are simply false. In my letter sent on Tuesday, June 6, I most certainly addressed all allegations.

“...The simple truth is: There is zero proof that I acted in violation of our Constitution.”

Last week, the four international vice presidents Jones has charged with violating the boilermakers’ constitution were sent a notice of an upcoming hearing on the issue. The hearing is to be held June 21 at the InterContinental Kansas City at The Plaza.

“All parties should be prepared to present their positions with evidence and witnesses at that time,” it said.

Among Jones’ accusations are that the men sought to pass motions to limit his authority and improperly attempted to call several meetings of the executive council. Jones also accused one of improperly destroying a document and another of colluding or participating in the collection of documents in an attempt to advance their charges against him.

Jones appointed Bill Creeden, the union’s international secretary-treasurer, and McManamon — the vice president who didn’t vote to oust him — “to handle all matters arising out of these Article 17 charges.”

And in another move underscoring the conflict, Jones has sent a notice to all local lodges saying he canceled the 2023 Industrial Sector Operations Conference, a major annual event scheduled for late August in Las Vegas.

“Unfortunately, this is what happens when International Officers begin playing politics with the roles with which they’ve been entrusted to represent Boilermaker members,” Jones wrote. “I know this will be a disappointment to many who look forward to this conference in Las Vegas, which is a highly educational conference for our members and staff.”

He said he planned to reschedule the “coveted” event “as soon as conditions warrant.”